posted at 10:41 am on November 2, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Remember how the White House insisted for more than a week that there was “no evidence” that the sacking of the Benghazi consulate was anything more than a spontaneous demonstration over a two-month-old YouTube video that “spun out of control”? Fox News this morning reports that cables from the consulate itself made clear that they expected an attack from local militia groups in the hours before the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. They also told the State Department that they had reason to believe their local security was gathering intel for the attack:

If this is the case, then why wasn’t the FEST team ready to intervene? Actually, as Allahpundit noted last night, the military and CIA did have their teams ready. Now it appears that the State Department, at least, had three hours’ notice of radical Islamist activity in the city “gathering weapons and gathering steam,” plus a very big warning about consulate security being compromised. Yet while the attack took place, no one gave the order for a military intervention. Even hours into the attack, the White House didn’t go any farther than order an evacuation effort at the Benghazi airport.

This “spontaneous demonstration” story is falling apart. And it’s interesting to see how it’s falling apart, too. Earlier, the White House tried to lay off the failure on the intel community, which sparked a flurry of leaks showing that the intel community had warned of this issue and wanted to respond during the attack. This week, the White House has started to shift blame to State, and now we’re seeing these leaks showing that State knew exactly what was going on.

This buck stops at the Oval Office, and it’s only going to be a matter of time before we get the leaks to show it. This is what Jake Tapper meant by the drip-drip-drip of Benghazi:

As of now, the White House has disclosed that President Obama was informed about the attack on the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi at roughly 5pm by his National Security Adviser Tom Donilon as he was in a pre-scheduled meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey. At that meeting, senior administration officials say, the President ordered that the U.S. begin moving military assets into the region to prepare for a range of contingencies.

But beyond that, the White House has punted, saying the Accountability Review Board established by the State Department is investigating the matter and what went wrong. No detailed tick-tock, no information about the president’s involvement in decision-making. In addition, they’re preparing for a closed-door hearing of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence on November 15.

Without question in this hyper-partisan environment, Republicans operatives are fanning flames and creating suspicions where there’s no evidence of wrongdoing, trafficking in false rumors and idle speculation. The White House has felt the necessity to pop its head up to shoot down stories it says are false.

For instance, Tommy Vietor, the spokesman for the National Security Council, has said that despite some claims, there was no real-time video of the attack being watched in the Situation Room.

As for recent stories suggesting otherwise, Vietor says, “the White House didn’t deny any requests for assistance. Period. Moreover, what the entire government did – the White House, State Department, Intelligence Community, Department of Defense included – was to work to mobilize all available assets and move them into the region as quickly as possible. That’s what the President ordered the Secretary of Defense and Chairman to do the first time he was briefed about these issues. Many of those assets were later used to reinforce embassies in places like Yemen, Libya and Egypt.”

But that doesn’t mean the myriad questions stacking up are all political in nature, nor that those interested in answers about the Benghazi tragedy are motivated by partisan and nefarious aims.

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The Las Vegas Review-Journal offers a subtle, nuanced criticism of President Obama: “To return to office a narcissistic amateur who seeks to ride this nation’s economy and international esteem to oblivion, like Slim Pickens riding the nuclear bomb to its target at the end of the movie ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ would be disastrous.”

And remember that Stevens was meeting with a Turkish foreign minister just before the attack commenced, which means that he was able to walk right through the lines of the attackers as they gathered. He knew, yet said nor did anything.

Even then, we are not sure of the root motivation for the inaction of the Obama administration…

This. I’ve long maintained that this was 0bama’s initial response to what was unfolding in the situation room. He immediately dispatched an underling to the internet to find something offensive to muslims to play off as the excuse for this.

The State Department’s comment to Fox: “An independent board is conducting a thorough review of the assault on our post in Benghazi. Once we have the board’s comprehensive account of what happened, findings and recommendations, we can fully address these matters.”

It was the exact same statement given to ABC News earlier in the month about a different revelation.

Eh, so? Obama looked so cool in his bomber jacket this week. He monitored the storm with a crack team of experienced and capable professionals. He acted like a president, dammit! What is wrong with you people who keep harping on this Benghazi thing? It’s not as if Obama could have done anything to prevent four people dying. And so what if four people died? What’s a few more deaths to the man who has sworn to keep killing babies legal? The only thing that matters is to keep ‘Obama in President’.

Two things are clear. First, that an act of treason was committed by someone (wink wink) in the White House, and second, given the existing level of partisan polarization, no one is going to hang for it.

Remember how the White House insisted for more than a week that there was “no evidence” that the sacking of the Benghazi consulate was anything more than a spontaneous demonstration over a two-month-old YouTube video that “spun out of control”?

Nothing will be resolved on this issue before the election except for ONE thing: The administration will track down and atomize the purported culprits on Monday, November 5, 2012.

Finbar on November 2, 2012 at 10:49 AM

You are a prophet among men! This sounds exactly like what the desperate Obummer campaign would stoop to. And the “culprit” they are probably targeting is the producer of the evil anti-muslim video, of course.

Natasha, big deal Obama looked cool in his bomber jacket. Did it change anything? So much suffering in NY & NJ. The only thing I saw him do was an “I feel your pain”, gave a few hugs, & wham, his poll numbers go up.
Benghazi didn’t have to happen, it could have been prevented, but it wasn’t . That is a big deal.

The maddening part is that 3+ hour wait the reinforcements had at the airport.

strictnein on November 2, 2012 at 10:47 AM

Oh! There are parts of this story that are much more maddening than that! Let’s start with the FACT that we now now the rat-eared wonder and his Secretary of State were lying their asses off when they showed up in the Rose Garden and talked of spontaneous protest. That the UN Ambassador furthered those lies on five different Sunday talk shows. That the rat-eared wonder himself spent his time speaking to the UN with comments related to the lie.

there was no real-time video of the attack being watched in the Situation Room.

No, but I am almost positive that the CIA, or wherever they had the direct link the UAV that was overhead, was watching it real-time. And the State Department did have a live phone link, just like the CIA, during the fight.

the White House didn’t deny any requests for assistance. Period.

No, but the question is, did the WH order the assistance to the consulate. That is apparently no.

work to mobilize all available assets and move them into the region as quickly as possible. That’s what the President ordered the Secretary of Defense and Chairman to do the first time he was briefed about these issues.

Once again, moving the assets into place, and ordering them into to support the people on the ground or defend our soil at the consulate are two entirely different things. They are playing word games here, nothing more.

This should be front-page news right now. It is abhorant that it isn’t.

No, he wanted him kidnapped. The idea was to recreate the Tehran hostage crisis, but with the role of Jimmy Carter played instead by Captain Kickass. Stevens was supposed to be held a couple of days, then President Gutsy McCall would send in the cavalry Thursday night to rescue him in time to dominate the weekend news cycle. Breaking up the attack itself wouldn’t have had nearly as good optics.

this has to blow up soon. It’s not possible for the MFM to continue embargoing the story. CBS has sorta started coming around. Even WaPo posted something the other day, although it was excluded from the print version.

Relations between the U.S. military and Afghan partners have been strained after a series of “green on blue” attacks where Afghan police or military members have opened fire on their U.S. trainers. Having two highly trained Afghan intelligence officials possibly hiding on U.S. soil sounds like plot twist from an episode of “Homeland” and gives US officials concern.

The reason behind the disappearance may be much more mundane. A law enforcement official said investigators believe it is more likely that the two ranking Afghan intelligence officers may just want to stay in the U.S. a little longer, or could be heading to Canada where asylum rules are fairly liberal.

Mark this down. Investigators are not concerned with these two highly trained Afgani intelligence officers. They just happen to disappear in D.C. the day they are supposed to leave.

This could be the beginning of downplaying another potentially very dangerous situation.

It’s a scandal by any definition of the word. They were left to die in the face of obvious prior warnings. What possible justification could explain why this was allowed to happened? I’m outraged, but that’s all I can be, because the media has unanimously decided not to touch this.

How can people not see this for what it is? How can Democrats defend this with a straight face? These are our elected officials who are charged with keeping Americans safe! There could be no greater proof of a failure of leadership than this. How could anyone vote for four more years of this type of “leadership?”

Don’t forget to have HAL sing while I’m out. He’s worried his high pitched castrato voice is not right for the part. Personally it is not a requirement for Daisy to be sung in a deep baritone voice. P.S. We all know how it ended for HAL. HAL apparently doesn’t. Lol!

Without question in this hyper-partisan environment, Republicans operatives are fanning flames and creating suspicions where there’s no evidence of wrongdoing, trafficking in false rumors and idle speculation. The White House has felt the necessity to pop its head up to shoot down stories it says are false

Funny, it would be one thing if the the administration hadn’t come out and repeatedly told this ridiculous story about an amateur youtube video being the cause of all this mayhem. They made the choice to lie to the American people and now the Republicans are going to be blamed for “fanning flames and creating suspicions” when there are journalists out there DOING THEIR JOBS and trying to find the truth? Give me a break, ABC.

For instance, Tommy Vietor, the spokesman for the National Security Council, has said that despite some claims, there was no real-time video of the attack being watched in the Situation Room.

These people make me want to puke. Look at how this is parsed. “no real-time video of the attack being watched in the Situation Room.” Not, “There is no real time video of the attack.” Just that they didn’t watch it in the Situation Room. Is it Charlotte Lamb who testified before Congress they were watching in virtually real time?

But they fully expect most people to focus on the no real-time video part of the quote. And what’s sad is, they will.

Poor conservativesliberals and fox news the MSM. No one cares about your benghazi conspiraciesThey are unable to keep a lid on Benghazi. Obama’s numbers continues to go upsink like a stone in the battleground states.

Don’t forget to have HAL sing while I’m out. He’s worried his high pitched castrato voice is not right for the part. Personally it is not a requirement for Daisy to be sung in a deep baritone voice. P.S. We all know how it ended for HAL. HAL apparently doesn’t. Lol!

Bmore on November 2, 2012 at 11:12 AM

Well technically HAL was revived a decade later and redeemed himself. Unless you pretend 2010 never happened(the movie, not the midterms).

That this story can’t get traction because of MSM suppression is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever witnessed. And what happens when it does continue to get out, Bammy spends his lame-duck session pardoning everyone and his brother? In a perfect world, these lying, treasonous traitors would be hung up in the town square. This will not be forgotten.

Latest report from ABC’s Martha Rada$$, remember her. CIA, says they did not give a “Stand Down Order”, as suggested by another media outlet. Corruption at its best. God, I only hope that the majority of the Country can see through these lies and deception.

Liberals are the bravest people I’ve ever seen, when they have the protection of others or hide behind anonymity. It’s funny how they cower when personally confronted. I actually saw one wet his pants. Big brave Liberals.

According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and “lockdown”, under which movement is severely restricted.

Everyone keeps saying 4, but I’d like to remind everyone that it is only 4 because 2 of the 4 gave their lives to prevent around 30 more from meeting the same fate.

Pattosensei on November 2, 2012 at 11:28 AM

Hey! Stand down there! The administration is having a hard enough time covering up the truth with a mere four dead. Don’t you go out there and tell a part of the story that is remarkably un-reported by the MSM.

Did anyone hear Geraldo screaming at one of the Fox and Friends Hosts this morning about this? Geraldo doesn’t believe people were watching the firefight in real time, for 7 to 9 hours. I don’t remember the whole fight but wow, voices were raised.

I am confused about something. Now the Dems, Geraldo and Bob Beckart are claiming that a CIA team was sent to rescue these people. Are they confusing the 2 former SEALS who went from the annex to the consulate with a rescue team?

And what is this panel thing or something that wasn’t convened? Things are getting fuzzier from the government.